Black Bears' Threes Help Ground Hawks, 70-61

WEST HARTFORD — For Maine, three-pointers kept falling through the net Sunday afternoon, even when they weren't needed.

With just over a minute to go and the Black Bears needing only to kill time to ice this upset victory, Zarko Valjarevic let loose a high-arcing jump shot from behind the line with 30 seconds left on the shot clock. Swish.

That was the exclamation point on the Black Bears' 70-61 victory over Hartford before 1,926 at Chase Family Arena. Or maybe it was the three-pointer wedged between the rim and backboard by Hartford's Wes Cole seconds later. Or the three air balls other Hawks players put up prior to that.

Hartford hit a low Sunday, shooting just 5-for-32 on three-pointers, and Maine hit a high, ending a 13-game losing streak. This was not a good day at the office for John Gallagher and the team he is trying to get the right grasp on.

"Teams are now daring us to shoot the ball," Gallagher said. "We're getting great shots — we had 16 more shots than them — but guys aren't ready. We have to play through this. There were times where the defensive end cost us to lose this game by not being able to contain the ball."

Offense, defense, nothing seemed to go well for Hartford (11-9, 4-3 America East), which has lost two in a row. Maine (2-18, 1-6) hadn't won since Dec. 2.

"We've been trying to set the bar a lot higher for our guys, mentally, and it's been hard to do when we haven't had any success," Maine coach Bob Walsh said. "Hopefully our guys realize we're capable of winning."

Mark Nwakamma, the two-time all-conference power forward, had 22 points and 11 rebounds for Hartford. He made 10 of 19 shots and sophomore guard Justin Graham (11 points) made five of seven. The rest of the team was 10-for-39.

Maine shot 51 percent from the field and was 10-for-21 on threes. The Hawks, who shot 38.5 percent, were 1-for-11 on threes in the first half, 4-for-21 in the second. That makes them 13-for-62 (21 percent) the last two games.

"The key to the [Hartford] offense, I think, is when they get dribble penetration," Walsh said. "They space the floor really well and they have a horse inside [Nwakamma]. They get their open three on assists off penetration. We did a good enough job containing the ball."

Kevin Little had 25 points and Valjarevic, whose aforementioned three-pointer made it 68-57 with 1:12 remaining, had 14. Till Gloger also had 14 points, with 10 rebounds, for Maine.

Hartford trailed most of the game but made a second-half push behind Nwakamma, taking a lead five different times. Maine, which shot 60.9 percent in the second half (14 of 23) always had an answer.

"Because we couldn't get consistent stops, our offense couldn't ever get a flow to it," Nwakamma said. "This game could make or break us. We can lose this and feel sorry for ourselves, let this cascade into more losses. Or we can look in the mirror, get back to the drawing board and win some games."

Gallagher said he plans to change the rotation but not the approach. Of so many three-pointers, he said, "I'm going to live with those shots. That's the positive. The negative is we're going to, at times, be able to play with anyone in the country, but also anybody in the country can beat us when we're not ready to make shots and when we're not defending."